


Are you joking?

by xofunghoul



Series: Days [3]
Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF
Genre: AU, M/M, Smut, single dad joe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:15:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22035421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xofunghoul/pseuds/xofunghoul
Summary: It's not easy to be a tired hardworking single dad with a boyfriend that wants to screw your brains out all the time.
Relationships: Ben Hardy/Joe Mazzello
Series: Days [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1407415
Comments: 8
Kudos: 38
Collections: Hardzzello Week 2019





	Are you joking?

**Author's Note:**

> Entry for Day one of Hardzello Week!  
> This story is part of my AU [These are the days of our lives](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18431816/chapters/43660862)  
> If you don't want to read that, all you need to know is that Joe is a single dad to a 9 year old girl and he is a screenwriter. Ben is a theater actor.  
> Enjoy!

Sometimes Joe can’t believe his luck. He’s only 36 years old and has already checked many things on his _all time_ bucket list that he’s been crafting since he was very little. Always obsessed with perfection, Joe worked really hard to achieve every milestone in a timely manner. Although for a few years, that made his life a little lonely in terms of relationships. Especially after deciding to be a young single dad. But without even noticing, Ben Jones stumble into his life and he was staying for good. Or at least that’s what Joe was hoping for. 

A few months into the relationship, Ben,along with Frankie, started to spend quite a lot of time at the Mazzello household. He says the place is cozy and makes him feel a lot better than his impersonal loft near the city so he doesn’t mind sticking around and helping out with Mazz whenever he can or Joe allows him to. But having Ben around the house constantly doesn’t exactly mean they get quality time together, actually on the contrary. They’re never or hardly ever by themselves, which makes it very hard for them to find the time for intimacy. 

There were many times where they started fooling around thinking Mazz was asleep and then either hear her roaming around the house or knocking on the bedroom door or calling for them. There’s also the fact that Joe is constantly busy, hence constantly tired. And to top it all off, they have very different schedules where Ben works in the evenings and usually, whenever he comes to Joe’s after a show, he almost immediately passes out while Joe always stays up working late. Joe barely even sleeps because he has to be up early to get Mazz ready for school too. It’s a struggle and Joe is constantly aware because Ben is very affectionate with him, sometimes he thinks that Ben is 24/7 ready to get down and dirty and he’s impossibly sexy without even trying which makes Joe want to die thinking he has such a boyfriend and he doesn’t have the time or strength to appreciate or enjoy him. But Ben is the most patient and sweet person and often laughs it off when they’re interrupted and understands when Joe tells him that he’s tired, that he wants to relax for a bit or sleep half an hour more if he has the chance. 

Except one day, he isn’t. 

Ben is particularly silent one evening when he comes back from the theater. Mazz doesn’t even notice because he follows on their conversation and smiles at everything she tells him but Joe senses something is up with him. He seems tired too. 

“Are you okay?” Joe asks, standing next to him, planting a soft kiss on Ben’s cheek and hugging him by his waist while Ben is busy washing the dishes. 

“Yeah, yeah. Tough day, that’s all.” Ben is pouting a little and it breaks Joe’s heart. If there’s someone in this world who doesn’t deserve to have a bad day in their lives is the piece of sunshine he has as a boyfriend. 

“Okay, tell me later? I’m going to put Mazz to bed and then I have some writing to finish but I’ll be in bed soon.”

Ben simply nods and Joe kisses his cheek once again and sets to do what he said he would but working took longer than he expected and by the time he is done is way past 2am and Ben is already asleep when he comes into the room. Joe feels awful because one, he promised Ben he’ll listen about his day and two he’s kind of relieved because he’s so tired he just wants to sleep right now. He changes into something more comfortable, washes his teeth and soon, he’s already tucked in bed, his eyes are starting to close before his head even hits the pillow but not a second later, he feels Ben move next to him and immediately, the blond is capturing him in a tight embrace. Joe smiles and lets himself be bearhugged as he nuzzles further into bed, eyes closed and smiling and content with finally going to sleep when Ben starts to get even closer to him and he feels a hand under his t-shirt trailing up his chest and next there’s Ben lips on his neck, expertly kissing his favorite spot and Joe curses inwardly because the timing is perfect, it’s late enough into the night for Mazz not to wake up and even Frankie is sleeping in her room, but he can’t bring himself to stay awake. So Joe holds Ben’s hand in place over his own chest over the fabric.

“Ben-” he whispers 

“Hmm?” Ben hums against his neck. 

“I-- look, can we do this some other time? I literally can’t keep my eyes open. I’m so sorry.”

And Ben stops his ministrations and pulls away from Joe. 

“Baby--” Joe tries, it’s not often he uses the term of endearment but he needs all the firepower he can get right now and he knows Ben likes it when he calls him that but not now, not in this context. Ben is pulling and rolling away from him. 

“It’s fine, Joe.” Ben’s tone cuts through the silence of the night and the stillness of the room and digs deep into Joe’s gut and he can do nothing but swallow hard. 

He’s propped up a little on his side, looking at Ben’s back as the blond puts the covers over himself and holds them tight to his chest and Joe thinks that that should be his hand Ben should be holding and not some cold inanimate fabric but alas, he just pushed him away and for the first time Ben did exactly that, he went away. It feels utterly wrong, knowing Ben is going to sleep upset and even worst to know that he is the source of his unsettling and Joe wants to roll him over and apologize and fuck him senseless to make him feel better but he knows he has no right now and it’s unfair to Ben that he always holds the cards for when they have sex and he feels so fucking guilty. 

“I’m so sorry.” He whispers into Ben’s ear, kisses the blond’s temple swiftly and nuzzles himself into Ben’s back, barely touching him, only his cheek is pressed to the blond’s shoulder blades and he kisses him there before closing his eyes, trying to catch some sleep. 

  
  


****

The next morning, as Ben begins to stir awake, Joe comes into the bedroom with a cup of coffee in hand. He climbs on it and gets on his heels next to Ben as the blonde opens his eyes and notices his presence. Joe is jittery, and a little terrified. He’s dreading to have this conversation because he thinks there’s no positive outcome for him and it translates to his face and his shaky hands on the mug between them. 

“Morning.” He says and extends the coffee in front of him, waiting for Ben to fully come to his senses and take it so he can talk to him once and for all and rip the band aid off.

“Hey--” Ben sits up a little and rubs the sleep off of his eyes and just like every morning Ben’s spent here and he is able to witness this, Joe thinks he looks like a fucking angel. And then he wonders if this is the last time he’ll see this happening. “Thank you.” Ben says, all husky and sleepy voice and receives the mug. He takes a few a sips from the coffee before speaking again. “Mazz?”

“Lucy took her.” Joe’s tone is a dead giveaway of the upcoming conversation they’re about to have and Ben clearly notices.

“Everything alright?” He asks and frowns at Joe’s uneasiness.

“Look, Ben. About last night--”

“It’s fine, Joe, really. I was smashed too anyway.” Ben takes another sip but his eyes still look at Joe’s. 

“Yeah but I didn’t like that you went to sleep upset like that and I’m sorry okay? I’m sorry I’m always the one that holds the cards for whenever we have sex.” Joe pauses and there’s silence from Ben. “You’re right to be upset and it’s not fair to you and--” Joe swallows, his mouth suddenly feels terribly dry and his throat closes. “You know, I’ll get it if you-- if you’d want to leave me--”

“Wait, what?” whatever sleep Ben still had on his face is suddenly completely gone and all that’s left is confusion. 

“I get it, I actually do. You’re young, you didn’t sign up for any of this.”

“Joe--” Ben tries once again to interrupt him but Joe keeps talking, he needs to let this all out at once.

“Or even if, I don’t know, maybe we can open the relationship? It’ll be a lot of work for me but maybe I can learn to accept that and be okay with you getting something you need somewhere else because I can’t give it to you. I just can’t imagine my life without you now Ben but if you’d want either of these then I’ll understand.”

“Joe!” Ben raises his voice and Joe stops mumbling and spiraling. 

“What?”

**_“Are you joking?”_**

“What?” Joe frowns. 

“I hope you’re joking. Please tell me you’re joking.”

“No, Ben. I’m not.”

Ben takes one last sip of his coffee and half turns to his night stand to place it there so he can sit up straight on the bed and he take Joe’s hands in his. He looks at their joint hands and after a deep breath, he looks up at Joe. 

“I had a shitty day yesterday.” He starts and Joe is a little confused because that’s not what he was expecting he would say but he listens anyway. Ben’s voice sounds soft and a little lower than usual, as if just saying what he’s about to say out loud is going to make it more real and he doesn’t want that. Joe’s heard this tone before. “We came across a harsh review of the play and the journalist, among all the many things he apparently hated about it, he wrote that I was too much of a hunk to be a theater actor and I should be working somewhere else where I wasn’t asked to express such complex feelings.” As Ben tells Joe this, his eyes drift away to their hands or sideways or down and when he comes to the last part his voice is suddenly so small like he doesn’t want himself to be the one saying that about himself. 

“Ben, I--” Joe is speechless and didn’t think he could feel any worse that he was already feeling but he was clearly wrong.

“Even though we’ve had many great reviews, I couldn’t stop thinking about that bad one, so I was upset. But not with you, **_never_ ** with you. Are you nuts? You have to stop assuming that I’m going to leave you every time you think you did something wrong, Joe. That’s not going to happen. One, because it’s not always the case, and two, even if it was, do you think I care about you so little that you making a mistake would be enough for me to leave just like that? No Joe. I love you _so_ fucking much, you have no idea. And I don’t care if I have to wait for Mazz to go to college to have sex with you again or if all I get is a quicky here and there once every 5 months, I would never, **_never_ ** , have sex with someone else. It’s not sex what I want, it’s sex with you. Just you. I want _you_.”

Joe is sure that never before in his 36 years of life, someone’s wanted him like this. He’s not even sure he can quite believe it. Ben can’t be lying to him. What would he gain with deceiving him? Nothing. Joe doesn’t have a lot of money, not a strong voice in the industry, not great connections. He’s just a faceless writer and he knows that there’s nothing he can give to Ben but his undying love but he feels like Ben deserves so much more than the insecure, inattentive and at times demanding love that his crooked heart has to offer him. This can’t be enough for him. Maybe it won’t one day but for now Ben is here. And he says he loves him and Joe can do nothing else but believe him. It’s not an easy thing, accepting someone loves you for you when you think the only thing good you’ve done in your life is raising your amazing daughter that takes so much from you, you feel like there’s nothing else good there to give to anyone else. He’s not accepting it anytime soon probably. But he’s learning and he’ll keep learning because after Mazz, Ben is the best thing that’s ever happened to him. 

“I love you Ben, so, so much. I don’t deserve you.”

“No one deserves to be loved unconditionally more than you do.”

Ben says softly and lets go of Joe’s hands to bring his own to Joe’s neck. He pulls Joe to him, thumbs caressing his cheeks and brings their lips together in a tender kiss that soon becomes slow and open mouthed and his tongue pushes between Joe’s lips into his mouth. He keeps the kiss sweet enough but he pulls the redhead to him as he reclines back on the bed and on his back and brings Joe with him. Everything they do now, they do it as if it’s slow motion. They take their time with every single little touch, their fingers tracing each other’s face and necks and collarbones. It’s funny, Joe thinks, that Ben is the one with the body sculptured in the image of greek Gods, yet he’s always the one to go for Joe’s skin first, riding of his t-shirt quickly. Like now, as he kicks the sheets away and spreads his legs so Joe can lay down comfortably on top of him, he runs his hands on Joe’s back, bringing his t-shirt up with them and he helps Joe take it off and discard it to the side so he can kiss his skin better. And so he does,he kisses Joe’s neck and throat and shoulders and back to his mouth. 

They spend a while like this. Only breaking their kiss to discard Ben of his t-shirt as well so Joe can run his hands up and down Ben’s chest and arms while Ben’s fingers also go up and down Joe’s spine and makes him shiver. It’s painfully slow but neither of them pick up the pace for a while and in this same lethargic tempo they’ve set is that Joe gets rid of the bottom half of his clothes and gets rid of Ben’s as well while the blonde watches him do so, all flushed face and full swollen pink lips and his chest rising and falling rather quickly in anticipation. 

Joe takes his place back on top of Ben between his legs and now their cocks are pressed together and with every little movement comes the slight friction that makes them both moan into each other's mouths as they continue with their wet kisses. One of Ben’s hand relocates from Joe’s back to his hair to keep their faces even closer, Joe’s pointy nose poking against the side of his own, and his tongue insistently explores all of Joe’s mouth deeply, in and out, he sucks Joe’s lips and sometimes even catches them between his teeth and Joe eyes roll to his back for the pleasure alone. Ben is so good at this that he can’t believe her ever favored sleeping over having his lips get swollen red by Ben’s teeth. He’s starting to think he’ll never do it again, damn anything else. 

The slow tempo they managed until now is suddenly picked up by Ben, who apparently is done waiting and is insistently thrusting his hips up against Joe’s. He bends one of his legs with his feet flat on the mattress and panting, he kisses Joe’s face from his mouth all the way to Joe’s ear where after a deep moan he whispers in a husky voice: 

_“Fuck me.”_ and bites Joe’s ear lobe.

And how can Joe argue with that?

While Ben keeps kissing him on that magical spot below Joe’s ear, he stretches his hand to the drawer on Ben’s night stand and opens it, haphazardly palming for the lube until he finds it. Not a moment later Joe is on his knees between Ben’s leg, slicking his own cock and Ben’s entrance, venturing in a finger which earns him a soft whimper coming from Ben’s lips. The blond’s eyes are trailing his every movement and he himself can’t take his eyes off of Ben’s glorious fucked out face. Most times he can’t believe he’s the source of Ben’s desire and that he wants him as much as Joe wants him but here he is, writhing below him panting softly to Joe’s every little touch and movement.

Joe spaces out a little watching Ben and the later notices. 

“Come here.” 

Ben whimpers and reaches out with his hands for Joe and he finally snaps out of it. As he does lean down again on top of Ben, he lines himself up and starts pushing into him, which makes Ben whine once more, open mouthed. Joe grabs one of Ben’s hands and kisses his knuckles after interlacing their fingers and he pins that hand down onto the mattress next to Ben’s head, his other hand on Ben’s hip while Ben’s free hand is still into his hair. 

“You’re so beautiful, Ben.” He says and kisses him swiftly once with their foreheads pressed together. “I love you so much.” 

Both their breathings start to raise in sync with Joe’s thrusts and their warm breaths mingle with each of their moans as Joe slowly and steadily picks up the pace. His hand that’s on Ben’s hips caresses his skin there and down to Ben thighs so he can put Ben’s leg up around his own waist. The action and slightly change of angle makes Ben throw his head back into the pillow, eyes shut, teeth sinking into his bottom lip after a raspy _‘fuck’_ escapes his mouth. 

“So beautiful” Joe repeats, “so fucking perfect.” 

_“Joe--”_

Ben’s moan of his name makes Joe delirious so he goes a little faster, a little deeper, a little harder and Ben’s back is arched away from the mattress meeting Joe’s impatient pounding and his hand on Joe’s hair pulls at it slightly backwards so he can kiss Joe’s neck. Joe closes his eyes, lips parted and his hand that’s still holding one of Ben’s pins it even harder into the mattress. Ben kisses and licks his way back from his neck to his lips and they kiss more messily this time, more desperately and they breathe loudly through their noses, feeling each other’s warm exhales on their own faces. 

“Come on _baby,_ cum for me.” Joe whispers over Ben’s lips and his free hand sneaks between them to grab a hold of Ben’s cock which makes the blonde gasp loudly once again, his lips parted over Joe’s face. 

A few more pumps and pounds later Ben unravels and goes limp under Joe, eyes shooting open and head thrown back. All his veins stand out on his red face and neck and Joe feels Ben’s warm cum in his hand and his gasps become more erratic and he moans Joe’s name one last time among those sinful noises. It only takes Joe another couple of thrusts to feel his own butterflies fluttering on the pit of his stomach unfolding his own orgasm and a few moments later, he cums too inside Ben and like every time, it only feels extreme, like heaven and hell, slow and fast, light and heavy. 

“I love you, Ben, I fucking love you.” He repeats one last time as he crashes on top of Ben and Ben lets go of Joe’s hand so he can cup his face and bring their lips together in a gentle kiss now. 

“I love you too, Joe. So bloody much.” 

Joe lays down and rests his head on Ben’s chest while Ben runs his fingers through Joe’s hair as they both catch their breath and come down from the high of their orgasm. Joe is terribly spent, eyes closed and about to fall asleep since he slept poorly the night before, so worried thinking Ben was going to leave him and now he’s so relaxed and content his body is trying to give up so he can catch up on those hours but he really shouldn’t, he should be at work soon. Luckily for him, Ben’s completely sexed out voice takes him out of his trance. 

“You know? Maybe I should get upset more often if this is how you’ll make it up to me.”

Both of them chuckle and Joe shakes his head as he strike a light hit on one of Ben’s pecks.

“Asshole.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think in the comments! I'm always so weak for this family.  
> Special shout out to Steph that has been waiting for this smut for a while.


End file.
